A familiar tale of woe continues for Arsenal

Arsenal fans are getting a sense of deja vu this summer — and the sight of Didier Drogba plundering goals at Emirates Stadium brought home the fact that we have seen this all before.

The Gunners are struggling to buy players rather than failing to keep them out of the clutches of others and Drogba is now playing for Galatasaray rather than Chelsea but the broad themes are the same.

And the overriding mood emerging from the Emirates Cup is that Arsenal are a club on the edge, one that need to act to keep their support on board.

Efforts are clearly being made but the pursuit of Luis Suarez has now become about far more than simply signing a footballer who is an improvement on what they already have.

Instead, it is about proving that the recent toil, the struggle against clubs who are not paying off the debt of building a 60,000-seat stadium, was worth it. This was meant to be the summer when Arsenal moved out from the ranks of the also-rans and made the most of the upheaval at Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea by taking a huge step forward.

Yet, although Arsenal possess some serious financial muscle for the first time in a decade, the powder remains dry. If Suarez is not bought — and yesterday’s comment by Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers that Arsenal’s £40,000,001 bid for Suarez “lacked class” was telling — then it is hard to see where they go next, having declined to pay the £32m that took Gonzalo Higuain to Napoli.

Their supporters resemble a smoker denied nicotine on a long-haul flight; nervous, edgy and apt to explode in frustration at the slightest provocation. They booed the team off when 2-0 down at half-time against Napoli on Saturday and did the same when Drogba — who now has 15 goals in 15 games against Arsenal — came on to score twice in Galatasaray’s 2-1 victory to win the Emirates Cup yesterday. If the fans react in such a way to setbacks in a friendly tournament, one dreads to think how they would take failure in this month’s Champions League play-off.

And despite confidence within the club, the only signing so far has been Yaya Sanogo, a 20-year-old French striker who arrived on a free transfer from Auxerre. In May the hope was that the club’s transfer business would be done early. Then before the pre-season tour of Asia. Then in time for the Emirates Cup. Now Arsene Wenger admits it may not be until after the vital Champions League qualifier. Alarm bells are ringing. Yet the situation is still salvageable. Transfer business is rarely straightforward. And if signings are made — Arsenal need at least one more centre-back, as well as possibly a goalkeeper and a midfielder — then this team could really push on.

The basis of a fine side is in place, with Laurent Koscielny improving every week, Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott — who opened the scoring yesterday when his cross drifted into the far corner — continuing to progress and Santi Cazorla already a top player.

But the players as well as the fans have been openly calling for additions; it would be a blow for them, too, if the same squad started this season as finished last.

Although Sanogo showed promise yesterday, he alone will not help Arsenal improve.

It is now eight years since Arsenal last won a trophy — if it becomes nine, it will be the club’s worst run since the 1960s. The shafts of light are obvious and it will be fascinating to see the progress of 16-year-old Gedion Zelalem, the first player to represent Arsenal who was not born when Wenger took charge in 1996.

But the days of relying on talented youngsters were meant to be over. Any major signings will now have scant preparation time with their new team-mates before Aston Villa travel to the Emirates a week on Saturday.

Yet the backlash if Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis are frustrated in their attempts to bring in fresh blood could be as brutal as Drogba’s finishing yesterday afternoon.